


Cancelled

by HopeCoppice



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Other, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Canon, The Arrangement (Good Omens), retirement doesn't suit them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 13:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21446803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice
Summary: They think they're cancelling each other out, all those years. But after the apocalypse, they stop tempting and blessing… and the world is different for it.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 177





	Cancelled

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little thing, pondering the effects of the Arrangement vs retirement, really. And an excuse for some cuddles.
> 
> I've started a new course of therapy and it has wiped me right out, so I may have to post more sporadically for a while. Most of my energy is going on the big involved fic I've been working on (NaNo is all but forgotten at this point) but I will do my best to get the odd one-shot up!
> 
> (Accidental 666 fic for the win, by the way!)

The old Arrangement between Aziraphale and Crowley was based on a very simple premise.

“We’re just cancelling each other out,” Crowley had told the angel, on more than one occasion, “we might as well just take it in turns to do both of our jobs.”

The new Arrangement was based on a similar, though slightly more complex premise.

“I love you,” Azirapale had told Crowley, once the world hadn’t ended, “and I know you love me too.” He’d doubted, suddenly. “Er- that is, _ do _you-?”

“More than anything,” Crowley had assured him, and that had formed the basis of something new.

“Then… now that we’re free…” Aziraphale hadn’t quite been able to find the words he was looking for before Crowley had pulled him close and kissed him more tenderly than he could have imagined.

Since the end of the world had come and gone, and Heaven and Hell had washed their hands of them, there was no need to meet a quota of temptations or blessings, and as that sank in they began to go days, then weeks, without performing any miracles that wouldn’t once have been classified as ‘frivolous’.

And then it turned out that one of the premises they held to be true was inaccurate.

“Come on, angel. You must have noticed. Things aren’t right.” Crowley was pacing the bookshop, and Aziraphale watched him, brow furrowing to match the demon’s.

“I thought- I thought we’d been having rather a lovely time, actually.” They’d barely left the bookshop in weeks, except to go to Crowley’s flat, usually via a nice restaurant. Crowley had been coiled around him more often than not, and Aziraphale had been enjoying being wrapped up in him without the constant threat of destruction.

“We have- oh, angel. We _ have. _” Crowley came to stand before him, taking Aziraphale’s hands in his. He sounded apologetic; that couldn’t be good. Was Crowley about to end things with him? Had this all been a terrible mistake? 

The demon squeezed his hands, cutting through his thoughts.

“The world’s gone grey around us, angel. Look out of the window.” Aziraphale turned his head slightly to obey, and realised what Crowley meant; the vibrant neighbourhood outside seemed dulled, as if some of the light and colour had drained away.

“I- well, yes, but- that doesn’t mean we can’t stay together-”

“What? No. No, of course we have to- but angel, I think we have to put it right somehow. This has happened since the world didn’t end; it’s probably our fault somehow.”

“Well, what isn’t?” Aziraphale couldn’t help but be relieved. “How do we fix it?”

“Hmmm.” Crowley sounded thoughtful, but he was soon distracted by his angel’s lips. When they broke apart, he snapped his fingers. “Ah. Maybe we were wrong.”

“About being together-?”

“Angel.” Crowley tucked a finger under his chin and lifted it until Aziraphale had to look him right in the eyes. “Are you having second thoughts about us? Because I’m not.”

“No- I- what were we wrong about?”

“We thought we weren’t making any difference because we were cancelling each other out, right?”

“Well, yes. You tempt, I thwart - I bless, you corrupt - you were right, nobody cared who did what.”

“But we were _ doing it,_ angel. We were still blessing and tempting and thwarting- we thought it didn’t make any difference, but maybe… maybe it did. Maybe the world needed those little blessings-”

“-and those little temptations did make life a little more interesting, didn’t they?”

He was caught by Crowley’s expression as it softened into something unspeakably fond and achingly familiar. He’d seen it enough times over the centuries, after all. It was the expression Crowley wore when he was trying to memorise everything about the moment, everything about _ Aziraphale,_ because they were about to part. Aziraphale didn’t want to part, not now they were free.

“We’ll work together, then, my dear?”

Crowley beamed at him as if he’d just handed him the moon and the stars.

“Yes, angel. Together.”


End file.
